


The Hunter

by Dakarima



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:41:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22635307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dakarima/pseuds/Dakarima
Summary: The year is 2047. Mythological creatures roam the earth; stalking the night. A corporation named The True Hunters had protected mankind from extinction since 1281. Every Hunter can be hired by anyone, as long as they pay up. This story follows the Hunter Azraelle, the youngest recruit to make it through the trial and training. She is hired to hunt down a creature she believes doesn't exist, that it is simply just a legend. Will she find the monster lurking in the dark or will another fate meet her?





	1. The Mahaha

**Author's Note:**

> Quick note - This story will have strong language, depiction of violence, death, rape and more as the writing continues. This is why it has been rated mature. Please read and enjoy at your own risk! ;)
> 
> Also, if you want more information on the gadgets that are used by the Hunters in the story, or other people, please check the "Gadgets"-chapter, as it will explain what it is. (Yes, I know some of it might not seem logical, but I try my best). This chapter will be updated as the story progress, I might also add more information for the "old" gadgets if I find the time for it.

The wind was howling outside making the old house creak; deafening the other noises Azraelle was trying desperately to listen for. The moonlight shined through the windows. As she passed one of them, she noticed the snowing had stopped. The house she found herself in had not been able to withstand the cold. She could see her own breath every time she exhaled. She walked through the living room and over to the kitchen.

She rounded the counter and saw a woman lying on the floor; or at least the remains of her. She knelt down and examined the pieces of meat and bones left behind. The head was still fully intact. It was covered by the woman’s hair which was drenched in blood and guts. Azraelle brushed it to the side and found a big and twisted smile on the dead woman’s face. She saw the whole kitchen was covered in blood.

A loud creak came from upstairs and Azraelle looked up. The creaks came across the floor steadily and small particles of dust fell from the ceiling. She pulled out her handgun, loaded it and gave it a firm grip. She glanced one last time on the body before standing up. She slowly made her way towards the stairs in the hallway.

The stairs had bloody footsteps walking up. Each step looked like a black portal to hell. They were bigger than average human feet. Azraelle knew this was the creature she was looking for. She had been hunting for it for three weeks and it had always escaped her. All the running must have made it bloodthirsty as it had managed to slaughter this whole village.

She walked up the stairs; trying her best not to step on the blood. The general creaking of the house made it difficult for her to distinguish which was made by the wind and which was made by the creature. The second floor was darker, the windows covered by curtains. This would make it harder for her to find the creature and she didn’t want to let it know where she was by turning on her flashlight. She would have to rely on her hearing.

When she got to the second floor; she placed a watcher on the top step. It was a scanner that let out an infrared light; if anything crossed the light an alarm would light up on her watch. If the creature chose to run down the stairs, she would know.

Azraelle chose the door to the left first. The door let out a screeching sound as she opened it. It was a small storage room filled with old boxes, jackets, skiing equipment and boots. She quickly scanned it. She didn’t think it would be there, but in this job, she had to be thorough. She made sure she still had a firm grip on the gun in her hand. She wished she brought her semiautomatic rifle with black core bullets. It would easily kill off this creature, but in this cold, there was a chance the bullets would explode inside the gun. She didn’t want to take this chance and went with her traditional handgun. She had also brought her iron sword alloyed with titanium. This sword was always by her side, no matter where she went.

She turned around and walked to the next door. She gently opened it and saw a bed in the middle of the room. The drawn curtains in the bedroom revealed a body in the middle of the bed. It was torn to pieces like the other bodies. She let out a short sigh and saw her breath. She stepped into the room and found the head intact again. The same twisted smile as the woman downstairs. She heard rattling from the closet to the left. She quickly aimed at in and held hear breath for a moment. She listened as the rattling continued.

She calmly walked over to the closet and placed one hand on the handle. She could feel her heart beat hard against her chest, but all her training had taught her to stay calm. She took a deep breath. She pulled the door back and aimed into the closet. A squirrel ran out of the closet and Azraelle let out a faint swore under her breath.

She shook her head and saw the squirrel run out of the room. She scanned the rest of the room with her eyes but found nothing. She walked over to the open door and froze when she saw a massive black mass in the middle of the hallway by the stairs.

The creature was wearing torn beige trousers and nothing more. The creature was bending over, gnawing on a small piece of flesh with a once fluffy tail. Its hair was long and black, covering its face. Its bones were visible beneath its tight skin. As quietly as she could, she lifted her gun and aimed at the Mahaha. She took a step forward and the floor creaked beneath her.

The Mahaha turned to Azraelle. It screeched at her. She fired her gun. It charged towards her and the bullet barely scraped its arm. It swung its knife-like nails towards her. She jumped back and fired again. The bullet completely missed. It stopped for a second and stared at her. Its eyes reflecting the moonlight.

Azraelle kept her gun aimed at the creature. She could clearly see its bones now and its skin grey-blue from the moonlight. It had blood running down its jaw; mixed with drool. She knew it was still hungry and she was clearly its next target. The Mahaha crawled a bit closer; its nails drumming against the wooden floor. Azraelle took a step back. It shrieked at her before launching forward. She jumped to the side and it flew past her. She knew the room was too small for her to fight in, she had to get out into the hallway.

She ran out of the bedroom and placed herself in the middle of the open hallway. Her grip around her gun was tighter than ever, her senses heightened and she readied herself. Everything was quiet except for the howling of the wind. She stared at the open bedroom door, ready for the Mahaha to rush out of it.

A loud crash came from the closet she looked through earlier. She quickly turned around and aimed her gun. Her eyes narrowed as she took a few steps closer. She was not going to lose this creature again. She held her breath to keep her view clear.

She walked all the way over to the door and placed her hand on the handle. She breathed out and took a deep breath, making herself ready to fight. She flung the door open and fired three bullets into the dark closet. She stared into the closet; all sounds deafened. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark as she stared into it.

Azraelle was flung backwards. The Mahaha had launched from the ceiling onto her. It howled in her face, drool covering over her face. It stabbed its nails into her left shoulder; easily penetrating her armour. She screamed out in pain and fired off a bullet into its chest. Without pulling out its nails, it knocked the gun out of her hand and held her arm down. The stench of the drool and the blood made her gag. As it was about to bite her face, Azraelle managed to kick the creature off her. Its nails pulled out of her shoulder and she jumped up. The Mahaha rushed towards her. She pulled out her sword as it launched forward with nails first. She swiftly took a step to the side and swung her sword. She managed to cut off its right hand, going through its flesh like butter. It howled out in pain as it fell to the floor. It let out a high-pitched scream piercing her ears.

It ran towards her. She swung her sword, but it avoided her blade. It forced its nails through her ribs and sank its teeth into her neck. She lost her grip on her sword and it fell to the floor. She cried out in pain and she fell to the floor with the Mahaha still stuck to her. Her heart was beating fast and she was rapidly breathing. She pulled out a long knife from the side of her boot. She stabbed the creature in the back of the neck. It let go of her neck and screeched out. She pushed it off her, nails still stuck in her ribcage. She placed the knife on its throat and pushed down.

The Mahaha’s body went lifeless. She pulled the nails out of her ribcage and collapsed next to the creature. She took a few deep breathes and closed her eyes. She felt dizzy from the blood loss. She smelled the foul stench reeking off the corpse next to her. She wanted to move away from it, but she didn’t have the strength to do it. She raised her arm and dried away the drool from her face with the back of her hand. She was at the brink of throwing up. She gave her watch three rapid taps before letting out a deep sigh.


	2. Welcome Back

Azraelle opened her eyes and was met by a bright light. It made her shut her eyes, but the light warmed up her face. She let out a short sigh. It was a sterile smell in the room. The pillow underneath her head was big and fluffy. She heard footsteps cross in front of her and a shadow was cast over her body. She recognised the footsteps, the pace and the weight of each step.

“Glad to see you’re finally awake, Azraelle. I must say you did worry me for a moment, considering how long you have been unconscious.” The male voice was familiar as well. She knew immediately who this British man standing in front of her was.

“You’re not the first person I was hoping to hear when I woke up, T.” Azraelle said in a low voice. She kept her eyes shut as she knew she was safe and could trust the person she was speaking to. She could hear the man’s breathing. “Can you stop your mouth breathing, it’s annoying.”

The footsteps went around her and over to her side. The warmth covered her face again. “You know it’s my asthma, it’s hard to control it.” He paused. She heard a pop sound followed by a deep inhale. “Aren’t you wondering how long you were out?” He asked.

She let out a deep sigh. She turned her head towards the man and slowly opened her eyes. T was wearing a dark blue suit with a white shirt and a blue bowtie. His hair was side parted and dark brown. He had shaved his beard recently, his skin smooth as always. Azraelle knew he couldn’t stand a beard on his face, she had never seen him with a beard at all, not even stubbles. Sometimes she was wondering if he even could grow a beard, but he had told her he shaved often.

“You’re going to tell me whether I want to or not and considering you’re here, there’s probably more that you want than telling me how long I’ve been out and worrying about me.” She said quietly.

A faint smile crossed T’s lips. “You know me so well, Azraelle. I did worry though; this is the longest you’ve been out.” He opened his flapover case and pulled out a small stack of papers. They were stapled together at the top left corner. He flipped over two pages and glanced at the document. “Let’s see here.” He licked his lips. “Two broken ribs, dislocation of left shoulder, a punctured lung, multiple stabbing wounds, cuts, bruises and a small concussion.” He looked away from the paper and down at Azraelle. “You truly took a beating from this monster; I am surprised to see that you are already awake. You’ve been out for twenty-three days.”

Azraelle was surprised to hear how long she had been out. He was right, this was the longest she had been out after going hunting. Her longest before this was five days. She believed him when he said he did worry, even though he was known to not worry at all. He could always replace them if they died. Caring for people or anyone was not a thing in this business, if you showed you cared you would die.

“How is my healing process going?” She noticed she was connected to an IV, but the fluid was slightly red. She looked over at T with a questioning look.

He knew what she was referring to. “It’s the latest healing fluid, straight from Osaka. It speeds the healing process with 30 percent and should also help minimizing scar tissue. It also kills off any bacteria and viruses the monster might have injected into you. You can leave this place whenever you want now, but the doctors recommend you stay for another week or two.”

Azraelle shook her head. She didn’t want to get stuck in this bed and she knew the longer she stayed here, the weaker she would get. She had to get out of this bed as soon as possible. She looked up at him and took a deep breath. “What happened to the village. The houses I went into was covered in blood with guts everywhere. The Mahaha left quite the mess.”

“Ah, yes, the Norwegian village in the north. It was quite the clean-up job, but we identified the dead bodies as well as we could and contacted their relatives. We unfortunately had to burn down the village as the place was contaminated. The body of the Mahaha was transported to Finland for further testing. Hopefully we will be able to study its blood and its anatomy.”

They stared at each other. Azraelle was waiting for him to continue his talking as she knew he had more for her. She knew he had more documents in his case and he would very soon let her read them. She raised her eyebrows at him, letting him know he could continue.

“We looked through the footage and we are worried you have slowed down. After careful analysis of the video, we would like for you to go through the initial tests everyone goes through for graduation. Your vitals were outside the norm when you faced this beast and we would like to make sure that you are ready for your next mission. Whenever you are ready to leave this hospital, you will go straight to warm up before going through the graduation tests.”

Azraelle scoffed at him. She had almost died on her last mission and one of the first things he tells her is that she has to go out on another mission. She was right all along; he really didn’t care. “T, I can’t do this. I almost died and you want to send me straight out on a mission, knowing that there might be something wrong? If you send me out, I will probably die.” She felt a small pinch of frustration. She pulled herself back and sat up in bed.

“That is why we would like for you to go through the testing before we send you out. If we feel that you are not ready, we will not send you out, but know that if you fail the test, you will have to go through the training again.”

“If _you_ feel like I am not ready. What about me? I am the one who risk my life every night when I’m out hunting.”

“You knew what you were signing up for when you first came here. Joining this corporation was a choice you made.”

“It was either that or death. I was seven years old, the youngest recruit this place has ever had.”

“You know I could have just left you out there, to either die of starvation or cold, or even killed off by the monsters, but I didn’t, I took a risk, I chose to take you with me, Azraelle. You might have just been a child, but you were the best. You proved yourself within the first two years of training. If you hadn’t been so young, we would have sent you off right away to hunt. Didn’t you make this choice to get revenge for you family? Or was it just the thought of death that made your decision for you?”

“What do you think a seven-year-old would choose. I had just seen my family get slaughtered in front of me. As soon as I was brought here to safety, you asked me ‘Either I could stay here and avenge my family, to protect earth from monsters who roamed this planet, or I could choose to die’, that were the options you gave me. Every seven-year-old would choose to live. I had no idea what I was signing up for back then, but as soon as that contract – which I couldn’t even begin to understand – was signed, I was no longer free. You might as well call it, selling your soul and body to this fucking corporation.”

T slammed his hand on the small bedside table which had a glass of water and a small bouquet of flowers on top. The glass of water fell to the side and the water that was once inside the glass was now dripping to the floor. He was angry with her. “How dare you?! This corporation has existed since 1281. We have protected mankind from being eradicated from earth for millenniums. I took you in, as if you were my own daughter. I taught you everything I knew, I fed you and kept you safe. I have given you nothing but knowledge, skills and life. I wanted to take you back to your family, but there was no one else to take you. Adopting you to another family was not an option because I knew that what you saw, would hunt you for the rest of your life. Instead of letting those thoughts slowly rot you from the inside, I chose to make you stronger, physically and mentally. If you had chosen death, then that would be understandable, but you chose to live on. I was not going to let those thoughts consume you. The others were sceptical to you, they thought I was mad for bringing such a young child into this, but I knew you would learn quickly. In fact, you exceeded my expectations.” He straightened himself up and pulled out a thicker stack of documents from his case. He handed it to her.

The front page read ‘Guivre’. Azraelle bit her lip as she knew exactly what it was. She looked up at T with a disappointing look. “Really? You’re going to send me to a Guivre right after all this?”

“You’re the only one available at the moment who can take this mission. The others are either occupied with other monsters or does not possess the skills necessary to hunt it down.” He had managed to calm down and his voice was soft. She remembered she used to be scared every time he yelled at her when she was younger. He would always say her footwork was wrong or the swing was too wide. It always sent a sting through her heart, but not anymore.

She flicked through some of the pages. Most of it was information on the monster, its behaviour, what it had done to be targeted by us and if there were any anomalies with this monster. The last few pages were the contract between the corporation and the hunter. The pay-out the hunter would receive once the monster was dealt with and other legal stuff Azraelle never really cared to read through, as they were always the same. The price would always differentiate between what kind of monster the hunter would hunt for, how many there were, if it was mutated or not and the damage it had caused. In almost all cases it was the government or the authorities who hired the hunters, but private persons were also allowed to hire them, if they could afford it.

Back in the old days, it was the church that would hire them and no one else, but the corporation had stepped into the light in 1940, when World War II had broken out. The war was a perfect excuse for monsters to come out anytime they wanted and slaughter as many humans as possible. After World War II had ended, they received recognition for their work and was now known by the whole world. It was almost impossible to keep anything secret these days, everything was accessible for anyone.

Azraelle pulled the duvet off her and sat up on the side of the bed. T took a step back to leave her some room. “Get me some clothes. I’m ready to start my warmup.” She felt a sting in her left ribcage; her body was still healing. T didn’t say anything which made her look up at him. He had an expressionless face, but behind it all, she saw that he was somehow worried.

“I will call in a nurse and prepare the warmup session for you. Once you are ready you can step right into the Yellow room and we will begin our testing.” He left the room, leaving her alone in the silence. She pulled out the IV drip and stood up. She walked over to a mirror in the corner of the room. She took off her hospital gown and found herself standing naked in front of the mirror. A small chill went down her spine as her skin was exposed to the air. She turned to the side to inspect where the Mahaha had penetrated her ribcage. Not a single scar was left behind, but her skin was pink where the penetration had once been. Four small pink dots. She moved her left shoulder and she felt no pain. She was impressed by the IV drip they had given her; it truly had worked wonders.

A nurse walked into the room. She let out a small gasp when she saw Azraelle standing naked in the room. “I am so sorry, miss, I didn’t mean to walk in on you like this.” She muttered as she looked away from Azraelle.

She raised one of her eyebrows with a questioning look. “You’re a nurse, you shouldn’t be embarrassed about this. If anyone should be, it should be me.” The nurse did not move. She was obviously blushing and didn’t want Azraelle to see. She let out a sigh, picked up the gown and put it back on. “It’s okay, I am dressed.”

The nurse slowly turned her head, cheeks red. She walked over to a closet by the door, opened it and pulled out a black box. She walked over to the bed with it and placed it neatly down. “Here are your clothes, miss. Inside you will also find a new watch, a standard long knife and a pair of boots. Also, don’t forget to take your pill before leaving; it will help relieve you of any pain that might occur while you are warming up.” She softly spoke and took a step back.

Azraelle walked over to the bed and dragged the box across the bed over to her. She tried to open it, but it was locked shut. She saw a needle scanner by the lock and sighed out. She pressed her thumb against the short and small needles. It was just long enough to penetrate her skin and make a small drop of blood come out. Her blood was scanned and a small click was heard.

“I see you are familiar with the locks here.” The nurse lightly chuckled. She was smiling at Azraelle. She opened the lid and found the standard black cloth suit. Each suit was specifically made for each hunter, down to the millimetre. It was what every hunter wore under their armour. On top of it was a new watch for her to wear. Next to the watch was the long knife she could hide in a sheath on her boots and a small white pill. Next to the suit was a pair of black leather boots.

Azraelle looked up at the nurse. “You may turn around now, as you seem to blush at seeing naked bodies.” The nurse blushed again and turned around. Azraelle took off the gown and pulled out the suit. Having underwear on was an option, but Azraelle had found out she was more comfortable without anything under her suit. She slid the suit on. It was skin-tight and highlighted her physique. She felt powerful every time she was in the suit. She placed the watch on her wrist and it automatically wrapped itself around her wrist. A small needle punctured the underside of her wrist. She picked up the boots and put them on before sliding the knife into the built-in sheath on the right boot. She picked up the pill and swallowed it quickly. “I’m done.”

The nurse turned around and her eyes widened when she saw Azraelle. Her breath went deep and slowly. “Wow…” She breathed out. She glanced over Azraelle closely, her eyes glistening from the sunshine coming through the window. “You look… really good.”

“Thanks.” Azraelle said quickly, but she didn’t feel uncomfortable. She turned around and walked over to the mirror. She looked at her reflection and admired her own body. She gave herself a quick smile before turning to the nurse. “Is there anything else I need to do or take before leaving for warmup?” She asked.

The nurse shook her head. “You’re all good.” Azraelle crossed the room and walked towards the door. She put her hand on the handle but stopped. “Is everything okay, Azraelle?”

Azraelle turned around and looked at the nurse. “You’re new here, right?” She asked and the nurse nodded. “A little advice, when you’re working here, don’t show any weakness. They will eat you alive here, at any given opportunity. Keep your head high, even when you feel like falling apart.” A worried look crossed the nurse’s face. her jaw was slightly hanging. “You’ll quickly learn there are not a lot of women here, and that’s because they can’t last because of the pressure. If you really want to get through this and keep this job, don’t blush because you see someone naked. Accept it and pretend it’s all normal, because the one you are looking at, won’t give a shit if they are wandering naked around in a hospital room.” She turned around again, opened the door and walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More chapters to come!!


	3. The Trial

Azraelle stood outside the yellow door with the number three painted in white. She remembered the first time she stood outside of one of these doors. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she was only seven years old. T was standing behind her, both waiting for the door to be opened. They had given her a grey jumpsuit she could work out in; they didn’t give her the black cloth suit until she turned 18 years old. It seemed that sexism wasn’t tolerated here, but still, some comments and certain physical touches were slipped by.

She remembered the first time someone had touched her inappropriately. She had reported it to T right away and he broken the man’s arm in three different places. No one ever touched her again, but they still stared. It made her uncomfortable in the beginning, but she had learnt to live with it. Most of the hunters respected her as she was one of very few women who had lasted in this business for more than five years. Some couldn’t even last a year because of the intense training and commitment it took to get through it.

Most recruits came when they were aged between ten and thirteen years old. Specific requirements had to be met when you came here. You couldn’t have any close family, no siblings, no parents and no grandparents. You couldn’t be famous or have any influence on the world or your country, if media had any kind of interest in you, you were not welcome. You had to stand the sight of blood and anything dead, most of this was learnt through their program, but if you threw up or fainted at the sight of blood, you were out. You had to be healthy, any kind of disease or condition that made you weak, you would fail most tests and therefore thrown out.

“Azraelle!” A male voice called for her from behind. She turned and was met by a man with wide open arms. He wrapped them tightly around her and lifted her up in a squeezing hug. “You’re back!” He said excitedly and let go of her. The man was half a head taller than her and he had black crewcut hair. He was wearing the black cloth suit with black polyester trousers held up by a black belt. The suit made his muscles pop out. He was strongly built and he had a chiselled jaw.

“Kasbiel.” She smiled and took a step back. “Yes, I am. Almost died in the process.” She said while scratching the back of her head.

“I heard, you were going for that Mahaha creature up in Norway, god damn nasty creatures. I heard it was a mutated one as well, must have been quite the fight if it almost took you down.” He said jokingly and gave her a small push on the shoulder.

“Indeed, it was quite the fight, but I managed.”

“Hey, I heard you were going through the trials again, why?” He had a worried look at his face.

She gave him a smile to keep the atmosphere calm. “Apparently my vitals were showing some anomalies that the corporation wants to get checked, they are worried I have become slower in my job. They just want to me go through the testing again to make sure I am ready for my next assignment. Can you believe it, they are sending me to hunt down a Guivre, right after almost getting myself killed? They really don’t care about us, huh.”

Kasbiel took a step closer and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’ll nail this, Azraelle. Me and the guys will be watching you, we were hoping to learn a thing or two from some of the best.” He smiled. “And don’t forget, a Guivre is nothing against you, after all, you hunted down the former Wolf King, I mean, could you get a harder assignment?” He softly chuckled again. He patted her shoulder and retrieved his hand.

“I will do my best to not disappoint, but first I need to do some warmup. After lying in bed for over twenty days, I need to get back into the rhythm.” He gave her a smile. The yellow door behind her opened and they both looked at it. “Time to go, see you at the trials.” She smiled. He walked past her and she turned to the door. She entered the yellow room inside and the door closed and locked behind her. The room was four floors high and 30 square metres. All walls were yellow and made of concrete, except for one that was a bulletproof glass. On the other side of the glass stood T and three other men in white coats.

Azraelle stepped over to the middle of the room, where a big red dot was painted on the floor and faced the glass wall. One of the men in the coats held up a microphone to his mouth. “Azraelle, you may start by stretching followed by thirty laps around the room. Once this is done, the room will rearrange so you will start your climbing and jumping warmup. Once that is complete, it will rearrange once again and some simple fighting routines will be tested by sending in a few dummy-robots. You will start with no weapons and fight yourself through all of the stages before we let you go to the graduation test, do you understand?” The voice came through a speaker from the ceiling. She gave them a short nod. “Please, when you hear a three second beep, you have ten seconds to get back to the red dot, before the room changes, that dot will always be your starting position, do you understand?”

Azraelle sighed. “This isn’t the first time I am in this room.” She placed a hand on her hip. “I have been here since I was seven years old.”

T grabbed the microphone from the man. “Behave yourself, Azraelle. Simply nod or shake your head, no need to act this way.” He was firm in his voice. Azraelle straightened herself and nodded.

Everything was silent for a moment before she begun to stretch out, preparing her body for a quick run before the rest of the warmup would be presented to her. She did her usual routine of her ten steps warm up; starting with jumping jacks, followed by walking knee hugs, arm circles, side shuffles, backpedalling, lunges, squats, leg swings, inchworms and finishing with karaoke. When she felt her body was warm she continued by running around in the room. She took forty instead of thirty laps. She jogged over to the red dot and gave the men a nod. A loud beep echoed off the walls for three seconds, then complete silence. She heard the machinery behind the walls started to tick and work. After ten seconds the room started to change. Some parts of the wall moved out, a rope fell down and hung from the ceiling and different climbing challenges appeared.

She walked over to the rope, shook her body and gabbed the rope. She easily climbed up the rope and begun to swing herself back and forth. She let go of the rope and launched forward and landed on one of the platforms. She ran across it and ran up the wall and grabbed the edge. She pulled herself up and ran across the thin poles, one jump at a time. She jumped up and grabbed onto the swing. She swung over to the next one and then again to the last one. She swung forward and grabbed a ledge on the wall. The climbed along it until she got to the edge and pulled herself up. She took a few deep breathes before jumping forward and grabbing onto a ridge in the stone wall. She carefully made her way to the top, walked across and climbed down the wall. She jumped down on a platform and was met by a warped wall. The last obstacle of the climbing course. She shook her body, took a deep breath and ran towards the wall. She managed to grab the ledge and pull herself up.

A feeling of satisfaction and pride flowed through her as she felt her muscles ache a bit. A loud beeping noise filled the room once again and she climbed down the ladder on the side of the wall. She made her way to the red dot before the whole room shifted again. She looked behind the glass wall and saw Kasbiel and seven other Hunters were watching her. They were all clapping for her and she gave them a thankful nod. She knew she still had it in her, even though it had been a while since she had a proper climbing work out. Her heart was thumping against her chest.

The room had returned to its old state, but a small section of a wall opened up and ten dummy-robots walked out. Even though they were called dummy-robots, they were not dumb. In fact, they had a higher intelligence than most people and was programmed to possess high skills in combat. Some of these robots had managed to even win over the weaker Hunters. The program would learn from their mistakes each time they were killed off, making the next wave stronger than the last.

Three of the robots had a sword, the rest would go hand to hand combat. One of the robots charged her and she easily fought it off. A small test to see if she was ready to fight. She nodded and all of the robots charged her. The only way to properly defeat a robot was to either decapitate it or destroy the core in their chest. As Azraelle fought her way through the robots, more came rushing through the opening and more of them were walking in with swords, blunt weapons or knives. She disarmed one of the robots with a sword and easily sliced her way through the robots. Her movements looked like a dance as she dodged and attacked the surrounding robots. She was calm, the fighting put her in an almost entrancing state, she didn’t have to think when she fought these robots, because she had fought them so many times everything went manually. Everything was analysed in the back of her head, telling her body how and where to move, but it was all done unconsciously.

The waves of robots were thinning out. They stopped sending out new ones as they were all on the highest difficulty already. She killed off the last of the robots. As the last robot fell to the ground, she snapped out of her trance and noticed how many she had fought off. She looked over at the men behind the glass. There were more now and they were all clapping, except for T and the three scientists. The scientists were scribbling on their papers and T was just watching. She bowed to them proudly. A part of her wished T would applaud her, as he had never done so before, but then again, this was just simple training, there was nothing special about it.

One of the scientists lifted the microphone to his mouth. “Azraelle, are you ready for the final trial?” The man asked and Azraelle nodded. She felt her body was almost on fire, feeling the adrenaline rush through her veins. “Please walk into the next room and stand behind the red line. Also leave behind the sword, you will be given a new one in the next room.” A new opening was made on one of the walls. She let go of the sword and walked towards the opening.

The next room was empty except for a sword lying in the middle of the room. All the walls were grey and made of concrete except for one wall made of glass. Everyone had moved with her and was once again watching her. At the other side of the room, a big section of the wall opened up. It revealed a chained up mutated wolf. It was the size of a horse and had immense strength. Its back legs worked almost like a spring, giving it the opportunity to leap forward quickly.

It growled at Azraelle and was only held back by a chain around its neck. It had drool dripping from its snarling mouth. Her heart was pumping slow and steadily as she realised what she had to do. The opening behind her shut close. She could still feel the adrenaline linger inside of her.

A loud beep ringed in the room for two seconds and Azraelle counted inside of her. The final countdown before she had to fight this beast. The grey and dirty fur of the wolf reminded her of the time she hunted down the Wolf King. It was one of the longest hunts she had been on. When she finally had caught up with the beast, they were facing each other, just like this. The only difference was that she was already holding the sword in her hand. She knew exactly how this fight would go before it had even begun. She knew exactly what she had to do and how to do it.

 _Seven… Eight… Nine… Ten._ The chain around the wolf broke. It leaped towards her. Azraelle swung herself to the side. The wolf crashed against the wall. She ran over to the sword and picked it up. The wolf howled as it turned to face her. It ran towards her. It leaped forward. Azraelle slid under it and cut its belly. It cried out in pain, blood dripping off of it. She could smell its stench reek off of its fur. It stood up on two legs and swung one of its hands towards her. She swung her sword and cut off three fingers. It fisted its other hand and punched her so hard she was hurled back. She hit the wall with a loud thump. She fell to the floor. The taste of blood filled her mouth and she spat out the red saliva from her mouth. The wolf walked over to her on its back feet. It lifted its arm and swung it down. Azraelle rolled forward and quickly lifted her sword. It went through the wolf’s head. Blood poured down on her. Its body went lifeless and the weight of the wolf made her let go of her sword and jump back.

Some of the wolf’s blood had managed to enter her mouth. She almost gagged before spitting three times in a row. She dried away the blood from her face and looked at the wolf. It wasn’t moving or breathing. She looked over at the glass wall and saw everyone cheering and clapping, even the scientists. They scribbled on their papers with a satisfied look on their faces.

One of them grabbed the microphone with a smile. “Well done, Azraelle. We will go over your vitals and the footage before we can come to a conclusion. You may go and take a shower while you wait. Please go through the opening behind you and we will see you shortly.” She nodded, bowed and turned around. She walked across the room, leaving bloody footsteps behind her. She felt sorry for the people who had to clean the mess up. She was hoping they were paid well; she knew it was hard enough to get guts and blood out of your hair.


	4. Memories

The female locker room was always empty. Often, Azraelle felt she was the only female working as a Hunter. During her time here, she had seen many young girls work their way up, trying their hardest to become a Hunter, but most of them failed on graduation day.

Graduation day was the first time a Hunter would come face to face with a monster of the corporation’s choosing. Very often it would be a creature they had managed to capture. This is when every student is met with the true test, to fight a monster with a sword or blunt weapon. Unfortunately, this is where most of them failed and sometimes it ended in death.

Azraelle recalled the time she first saw one of the students get killed by a monster. She had been in the field no more than seven months. It was a student named Ayil, she had showed great promise and had one time joined Azraelle in the climbing course. She was struggling with her flexibility during her training, but was able to finish her training nonetheless. A few months later she was sent to go through her graduation test. She was set up against an erymanthian boar. She jumped too late and ended up with a tusk straight through her body. It took the boar a few swings before her body flew off its tusk. There was so much blood, the clean-up took almost three days.

Thinking back on Ayil gave her a bad taste in her mouth. The face she had made when the tusk penetrated the poor girl’s delicate flesh still lingered in her mind.

Azraelle opened her locker and found her shampoo and body soap. She noticed a new suit was neatly folded and placed inside the locker. She pulled off her boots and slid out of her tight suit. She threw the suit into a basket by the door where all filthy clothing went and placed her boots inside her locker. She walked over to the shower room and turned the shower on. She took a step back before the water could hit her. There was no specific smell in the shower, it just smelled clean, but soon it would smell of coconut and strawberry.

Once she noticed the steam rose from the water; she stepped under the stream. It was a bit too warm as her body was covered in goose bumps. She adjusted the temperature and found the perfect heat that made her want to stay in the shower forever. The water sliding down her body and into the drain was all red. She made sure to rinse away all the blood before she continued with the showering. She poured some shampoo into her hand and massaged it into her hair. The refreshing smell of coconut filled the room.

Azraelle had learnt to enjoy these moments of quiet. She was always on the move and rarely had time to take care of herself. It used to be more hectic when she was growing up in this building. Being a student here meant that full dedication towards studying was the path to success. If you slacked off the teachers would see it right away and either tell you to focus on the studies, prove you already knew whatever was taught or be thrown out. Luckily for the corporation, it was easier to recruit people, as they had a deal with adoption-centre that if they had someone who fit their requirements, they would notify them.

During her time here growing up, she felt that T had been hanging over her the whole time. He had been pushing her further than she thought she was capable of. There were times she wanted to yell at him, to run away and be alone for just a moment. Her body was sore almost daily from the constant training. There was only _one_ time where they had ended the training. She was 14 years old and had been in constant training for months. Her body had suddenly frozen in the middle of the course. She couldn’t move at all. When T walked up to her and asked her what was wrong; she had collapsed down on her knees and started crying. T had caught her and let her rest on him on the floor. An hour had passed, and she had finally stopped crying; Azraelle had said they could continue, but T had insisted they stayed, because he somehow knew she was not done yet, and he was right. It took her another hour before she was completely calm.

She took a deep breath, breathing in the delicious smell of coconut. She washed out the soap from her hair, the small bubbles gliding down her body. She kept washing until all the soap had disappeared. She picked up her other soap and poured it into the palm of her hand. The sweet strawberry-smell reached her nostrils and a smile grew on her face.

She closed her eyes and reminisced back to her childhood. Azraelle and her mother had just plucked some strawberries from their garden. The sky was cloud free and it was in the middle of the Summer. Her mother was humming on her favourite little tune. Azraelle had placed one of the strawberries on her tongue and chewed it down. The sweet juices from the strawberries made her smile. For a moment, she felt pure happiness. She looked up at her mother, but her face was almost blurred out. She couldn’t fill in the blank space on her mother’s face.

Azraelle pulled herself out of her thoughts. She noticed she had been standing still with the soap still in her hand. She shook her head and poured half of the soap in her other hand before lathering herself in soap. The smell of strawberries filled the room, mixing in with the coconut scent. She rinsed the soap, turned the shower off and walked over to her towel. She dried her body before leaning forward to dry her hair as much as possible. She wrapped the towel around her and walked over to her locker.

“You were amazing out there.” A female voice by the entrance made Azraelle jump. She looked over at the blonde woman standing by the door. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She gave her an apologetic look.

“That’s alright, I was just lost in my own thoughts.” She pulled out the clean suit from her locker and placed it on the bench.

A few footsteps walked towards her and she was suddenly right next to her. “I am Dahlia, by the way.” She held her hand out. She didn’t shake it; she just gave her a nod without looking at her. “So…” She retrieved her hand and took a step back. “It’s quite empty in here, isn’t it?”

Azraelle rolled her eyes but made sure Dahlia didn’t see her. She let her towel fall to the floor and Dahlia kept looking at her. Azraelle shrugged, picked up her suit and slid into it. She took out her boots and sat down on the bench. Dahlia sat down next to her. “You’re like my biggest inspiration here, I wish to be like you one day.” Azraelle looked at her and noticed her eyes were glistening. “I mean, I know I’ll probably never become as good as you, but you’re like a hearo to me, you’ve been so since I first saw you walk down one of the corridors here. I’ve basically watched all of your training sessions.” She bit her lower lip gently.

Azraelle let out a deep sigh. “Listen…” She put on the first boot and tightened it. “It’s sweet of you to say all those things, but let’s be honest here, I don’t really care. You’re probably not the first one to look up to me and you’re probably not the last. I am not saying I am ungrateful, because your words are kind and I can see that you mean them but looking up to me won’t make you better. Your focus should be on your studying, your movement and your opponent. If you lose focus because you’re obsessing over someone, you’re going to get yourself killed.” She bent down and put on her other boot.

“Is it that obvious?” She asked nervously. She was fiddling with her own fingers.

“Yes, I am afraid it is, and I have been training enough to not only read how monsters behave and sometimes even think, I can do it to humans too. Often, humans are easier to read.”

Dahlia looked down on her own hands. She was biting her lip again. “Hey…” Azraelle placed a hand on Dahlia’s hands. “Thank you, I appreciate it, but you will not find my feelings reflecting yours.” She looked up at Azraelle with a short smile. “You know what, next time I work out, I’ll let you know and we can do some training together, okay?” Azraelle felt a sting of regret; she felt she had been a bit too forward with Dahlia. But it was better for her to hear the truth than to be led into the shadows.

“You smell really good.” She mumbled. Azraelle couldn’t help but smile. “Sorry, it’s just…” She looked away for a second. “You really do.” A short giggle came out of her. Azraelle chuckled and gently patted her hands. She stood up and walked over to the mirrors.

“I appreciate your honesty.” Dahlia said behind Azraelle. She looked at her in the mirror. “Do you think you perhaps could come to one of my sessions and see how I am doing? I could really use some good feedback.”

Azraelle leaned forward on her hands. She kept her head down and looked down in the sink. “Who is your teacher?”

“Which one of them?”

“Your workout teacher?”

“Oh, right... It is J.”

Azraelle har to go through her catalogue of names to find the correct face to the name J. Of course, it wasn’t his real name; he had worked his way up to become a teacher. He started out like everyone else; a student, then worked his way up to become a Hunter. Once he had served long enough as a Hunter, he was offered a job as a teacher. When you are a student and a Hunter, you are given a codename which is the only name you are to go by. If you manage to work your way up, you will be called by the first letter of your real name.

Azraelle found the correct face to the name J. She remembered having him one year, he was one of the better teachers, but he was bad at letting you know exactly what you had to work with. He believed that once you had mastered the different movements, you would know, it wasn’t something you could teach by constantly correcting the student.

She turned to face Dahlia. “Sure, I’ll try to come to one of your sessions.” She gave her a half smile and she was met by a growing smile. Azraelle’s watch lit up and flashed green. On the screen it said “13B2”. Dahlia looked curiously at her. “I got to go now, but I’ll probably see you around somewhere. Take care, alright?” She walked over to her locker and closed it. Dahlia nodded and watched as Azraelle left the locker room.


	5. The past

The elevator dinged and the doors parted. Azraelle stepped out and walked down the corridor. She made her way to section B and it didn’t take long until she found room 2. She opened the door and walked inside.

The room had a long wooden table in the middle of the room with surrounding chairs. At the end of the room was a large TV screen, it was currently off. The room was lit up by multiple lights from the ceiling. There was no particular smell in the room, but a faint fragrance of male cologne lingered in the air.

T was sitting on a chair by the edge of the table; furthest away from the door. He had a small stack of papers in front of him and his flip over case next to him. On the other side of the table sat one of the men in white coats that had watched Azraelle earlier. He too had a small stack of papers in front of him. Next to the papers laid a touch-pad.

They both looked at Azraelle as she entered the room. She closed the door behind her and walked over to the closest chair and sat down. T was quietly drumming his fingers on the table. “Welcome, Azraelle. My name is John, and T you already know.” He gestured towards T. “As you know, you had an anomaly while you were out hunting for…” He shuffled over one of the papers and glanced over it. “A Mahaha?” He seemed unsure if he had pronounced it correctly.

Azraelle nodded. “Yes, I hunted for the Mahaha.” She leaned back in the chair. She could clearly see that the man had no clue what a Mahaha was. It somehow humoured her to think that there were people in this building who had no idea what was truly lurking around at night. They were working for the biggest and only corporation who hunted down these creatures, yet, they had no clue of what it was they were hunting. Azraelle couldn’t blame him though, there were probably a lot that he knew that she didn’t.

John grabbed the touch-pad and gave it a few taps. The TV turned on and a clip started rolling on the screen. Azraelle immediately recognised the place it was showing; it was the house in Norway. “We are going to show you exactly where the anomaly occurred and perhaps, if you remember, enlighten us as to why the spike might have happened.” He pointed towards the left side of the screen. “Here, you can see all the readings of your body. As you can clearly see, they are way below the norm, which is great, as it shows you have been properly trained, even when you saw the body of the woman right here, you kept yourself completely calm.” John kept explaining. Azraelle glanced over at T, who stayed expressionless. She had hoped they would have made eye contact to tell him he was the reason she was properly trained, but he was staring at the screen as well.

The clip continued rolling. “Here, your heart rate rises with barely six beats per minute, which is where we can see you realise you are not alone in the house. When you get to the stairs and see the footprints, your rate actually lowers with two beats. It is as if you are relieved to see that the monster is actually in there with you, how come?” He turned to Azraelle with a smile. He seemed fascinated with this finding.

She simply shrugged. “I suppose it’s comforting to know that the thing you are looking for is in the house and not something completely else.” She begun to explain. “If there was another creature in there, then I would have to try and identify it based on its footprints and the bloodbath it left behind.”

“But how were you so sure that it was the Mahaha, what if it was something else?”

Azraelle gave him a strange look, but noticed T was looking at her as well. She straightened up in the chair and cleared her throat. “Based on the body of the woman and the footprints left behind, I was certain that it was the Mahaha. I had been hunting for it for three weeks, I knew exactly how this creature killed and moved.” She pointed at the screen. “As you can see on the footprints, they are larger than human feet, it walks only on its front part of its feet. You can also see small scraping marks on each step, showing that it has long nails, giving it a better grip when leaping forward or climbing. You could also see on the victims that a big grin was left on the head, and the whole head was intact, a characteristic thing for a Mahaha to do. The body was not ripped apart either, it was cut, a sign of the long knife-like fingernails the creature has.” Azraelle could go on for hours, explaining why she was so sure this was the Mahaha. John’s smile had been growing for each sentence she had spoken.

John’s jaw dropped a little. “Fascinating…” He breathed out. “Absolutely fascinating.” He stared at her for a moment until he realised what he was doing. He cleared his throat and straightened up. He turned towards the TV and it showed the squirrel had just escaped the closet. “Now watch carefully.” They all stared at the screen. Azraelle had just turned towards the door and saw the Mahaha in the hallway. “Here!” He quickly tapped the pad and the clip paused. He pointed towards the readings on the left side. “You had a spike of about thirty beats per minute for five whole seconds. As soon as you saw the Mahaha, you spiked more than a normal human does when having a panic attack.” He turned towards Azraelle. “This is the only spike you have, after those five seconds, you go back to normal, even when the monster leaped at you from the closet you didn’t have a spike. Why do you think this spike happened?”

Azraelle kept her eyes on the screen; staring at the silhouette of the Mahaha. A feeling of dread crept up on her. It felt like a memory from long ago lingered in the back of her mind. For the first time in years, she felt a sting of fear. Her eyes circled the silhouette; around and around and around. “Azraelle?” John’s voice pulled her out and she looked over at him. “Are you okay?” He gave her a worried look as he leaned forward towards her.

She took a deep breath; her eyes swayed over John, the TV screen, to T and back to John. “Yes, I am sorry, could you please repeat the question?” She shifted in her chair but kept her eyes on John.

He nodded. “Why do you think this spike happened?” He repeated and leaned back a bit.

She licked her lips and gave it a thought. She knew why, but the question was; was it a good idea to tell them. She looked over at T. She didn’t know what she was looking for, perhaps someone to tell her it was okay to speak the truth, or perhaps he knew, and he could tell. She wasn’t sure what to say, but after a moment of thinking, she had made up her mind on what to tell them.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t know. Maybe there was a misreading of the watch, but I don’t know.” She sat completely still. The room was silent, and John was processing her answer. She was breathing slowly, trying her best not to move or make a noise as to break the silence. She didn’t want to interrupt his thinking process.

John finally sat back in the chair and looked over at T. They exchanged a few seconds of staring until John broke the silence. “Well, I suppose it could be a misreading.” He looked over at Azraelle. “I will have to look into it. In the meantime, I believe T would like to brief you on the next mission.” He glanced over at T before standing up from his chair. He picked up the papers, slid the touch-pad over to T and walked towards the door. “Have a good day.” He bowed his head and left the room.

As soon as the door closed behind John, Azraelle looked at T. He was looking down on the papers in front of him, but she could tell he wasn’t reading them. The room went silent again and Azraelle kept her mouth shut. She was waiting for T to end the silence.

“Why didn’t you tell him?” He kept his eyes on the papers and his head down.

“Tell him what?”

“You know what.”

He turned his head and their eyes met. Her eyes quickly glanced on the TV, which still showed the paused clip. He raised his eyebrows; awaiting her answer. “So, you knew?” She asked him and leaned forward.

He let out a small chuckle. “Of course I knew, I was the one who hunted it.” He leaned back and looked down at the papers again. “I found you in that closet with tears pouring down your face.”

“So you knew having me go through the graduation trial wouldn’t be of any help.”

“Yes.” He placed one finger on one of the papers and swirled his finger around. “It was just formal practice. Waste of time to be honest, but that’s how it works around here.” He looked back at her. “Everything has to be documented.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?”

“Because I believe he doesn’t have to know. No one here – working for this corporation – have to know.” He grabbed one of the papers from the table, stood up and walked over to her. He placed the piece of paper in front of her and she looked down on it. At the bottom left corner was his signature. “Does the contract look familiar?” He asked her.

She scanned the document and a familiar word was found in the sea of text. She looked up at him. “You sent me to that Mahaha.” She sounded more surprised than she intended to.

“Do you know why?”

Azraelle went silent for a moment. She searched the document for an answer, but the words didn’t say anything. She looked over at the screen again. The answer was right there, in front of her. She looked up at T. “Because you wanted to see if I remembered.”

A smile grew on T’s face. A wave of fulfilment washed over him, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I realise that you will never forget that night; it will stay with you until you die. You will forever keep that fear with you, no matter how far you go, but it brings me pride to know that the creature no longer scares you.” He gently patted her shoulder. A warmth spread out across her body. “You have mastered the control of fear. You can override your own instincts of fleeing from what you fear the most. Often it is the feeling of obligation that keeps a Hunter going, but you have managed to master the control of fear.” Azraelle realised her jaw was slightly hanging and her eyes were getting wet. “Azraelle…” She leaned her head onto his stomach, and he wrapped one of his arms around her. “I am proud of you.”

A tear escaped her eye; before she knew it, they were rolling down her cheeks. T reached into his suit-chest pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief. He handed it over to Azraelle, who took it and dried her tears with it. She sniffled a couple of times before she leaned away from him. She looked up at him with sparkling eyes. He stroked his hand through her hair. He stopped mid stroke, leaned down and kissed her forehead. He stepped away from her and walked back to his seat.

“Ready for another hunt?” He asked her and reached for the touch-pad. Azraelle stood up, walked down the room and sat down where John sat earlier. The seat had already managed to get cold again. T tapped a few times on the pad and a picture of a Guivre appeared on the TV screen. “I assume you are familiar with this creature?” Azraelle nodded. “Good, it has been located in Brancion, France.”

Azraelle raised an eyebrow. “In Brancion? Why would you send me to Brancion? It’s such a small little village? I thought it was deserted.”

“It is, but even though a town is deserted, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth saving. The creature has been rampaging the nearby places and seem to be nesting in the cathedral. We have been asked to hunt down the Guivre and if it has laid eggs, to break its eggs as well.” T explained and tapped on the pad again. The picture changed to the cathedral in Brancion. “We believe it has its nest in the tower, but we have not sent any Hunters there to investigate thoroughly, as there is no one who possesses the necessary skills to do so.” He taps one more time and a video starts playing.

The video showed a small dragon-like creature swoop down and grab a sheep, with its hind legs, from a farm. It was in the middle of the day on a cloud free and sunny day.

“It’s desperate…” Azraelle breathed out.

T looked at her when the clip ended. “Correct, which leads us to believe the eggs have already cracked.” He reached for his case and pulled out an envelope. “In here are your contact who will take you to Brancion. A jet is waiting for you at the airport.” He placed the envelope in front of her. “Your bag has already been packed and it contains everything you need. If there is anything else, just call your contact and he will fix the rest. You have already been provided with the details of the creature, this has also been brought to the jet. Any questions?”

Azraelle picked up the envelope. Nothing was written on it and it was light to hold. She assumed it only contained a name and a number. “Where will I meet my contact?”

“He will pick you up at the airport. Go there, kill the dragon and anything else in that village and then come home.” She gave him a quick nod and stood up from her chair. She walked over to the door and placed a hand on the handle. She wanted to turn around and say something, but the words escaped her. She shook her head and left the room.


	6. Gadgets

**CHAPTER 1**

A watcher – This is a scanner can be placed on any surface. It let’s out an infrared light in a spread line that will alarm the watch-bearer if someone crosses it. It was invented in 1992, but modified to a more invisible design in 2016. It went from looking like a long log to a small tape-stripe.

Black core bullets – Bullets filled with Hydrofluoric acid. The bullets are designed to explode and spread once it penetrates flesh. It help the acid to spread as far as possible, burning the victim from the inside. It was first fully invented in 1973, but the first design of it was made back in 1923.

**CHAPTER 2**

The Watch – The watch is the equipment every hunter has. It must be on their body at all times. It reads their vitals, tracks their position at all times and is the only tool that can call for direct contact with some few taps. A new model was released early 2047. This watch is not possible to take off unless a release lock is given from your leader. The needle that goes into one’s skin on the underside of your wrist, not only give better reading of vitals, but it can release a calming toxin if you were to lose your mind while in the field. The first watch model was released in 2001.

**Author's Note:**

> More chapters to come!!


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